Passed the Walls
by Xelbie
Summary: Emma Swan hasn't had an easy life, and things just seem to be getting more complicated. Who will be there for her? An Emma/Charming fic that was requested. Post "The Miller's Daughter".


**[A/N]: **_So this is dedicated and written for **DanceIsEverything13**, who requested a Emma/Charming fic. It took some time, but I've been having the feels, and OUAT is coming on Sunday! :D Plus, I saw that small scene where Charming kissed Emma's forehead in the promo, and it inspired me to finally write, haha. Hope you guys like. I don't know where this came from. It's sometime after "**The Miller's Daughter**" just know that._

* * *

_Chapter One_

**Bury the Castle**

David looked over to his daughter, who was sitting on the couch with her sleeping son, stroking his hair gently. Snow was still in a daze from what happened with Cora, and was ultimately unresponsive, no matter how much he wanted to help. Charming was seated on the stool of the kitchen counter, taking large gulps of coffee when he felt necessary.

He sighed. His family was slowly drifting apart. Snow was still getting over Regina's mother's death, Henry was angry at Emma for lying about his father, and Emma, along with himself, was desperately trying to keep the family together.

One thing he also noticed was Emma's stand-offish behavior. The last couple days were obviously wearing down on his daughter. Henry's father (He refused to call him Emma's ex-boyfriend) was back in town, along with Neal's fiancée, Tamara.

A few days before, Charming had already noticed the blonde woman's uncomfortable aura. Naturally, being the concerned father he was, David confronted her, but got the answer he expected.

* * *

"Emma," Charming called out to his daughter while in Gold's shop, waiting for Cora and Regina to strike. Her head snapped towards him. "Can you help me with something?" He beckoned her away from Baelfire.

She obliged and walked over to the corner of the shop's front. Neal wandered into the backroom with his father, sensing the need of father-daughter alone time.

David watched as Emma's eyes followed the man until he was gone. Finally her blue eyes met his own. "I have a feeling you don't actually need help with anything."

He sighed, not exactly knowing how to approach her on the topic. "Listen… I've noticed that you've been a bit uneasy lately." When she simply stared at him, he continued, "I just want you to know that you can talk to me… About _him_." Charming couldn't help it if his tone was slightly venomous.

Emma's eyebrows rose slightly and she replied awkwardly, "Uh, thanks, David… but I have no problem with Neal being around." David couldn't help but send her a look of disbelief. "I'm serious! You think I care that my ex from ten years ago is getting married?" Another look was shot towards her and she spoke quickly. "Don't answer that."

He grabbed his daughter's shoulders affectionately, "Just know that I'm here for you, all right?"

She only nodded before breaking the conversation to speak with the dying, Rumplestiltskin.

* * *

Now, it had been two days since then and Emma was further away from before. She stared ahead at nothing while sitting on the couch, obviously in deep thought. Charming sighed. Snow wouldn't eat, and Henry was asleep, he knew what to do.

Standing from his seat quietly, he made his way over to his wife's side first, leaning on the wooden pillar at the front of her room. The King spoke softly to his love, "Snow, do you want to go to Grannie's for lunch? I'm going to ask Emma, too…"

The woman's response was a small, slow, shake of the head, and she never looked at him once. With his spirits slightly deflated, he walked over to his daughter and grandson, moving nimbly so he wouldn't wake him.

David lightly tapped Emma's shoulder. Immediately, she looked up to him. "Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go out for lunch…" He whispered the offer.

His daughter stared at him for a moment in surprise, but he was shocked the most when she said, "That sounds nice right now." Charming watched as the woman maneuvered around the sleeping boy and pulled a blanket over him.

A pang of guilt and hurt went through the former shepherd at that moment. Ever since the curse broke, he always had those small nagging questions in the back of his mind. The 'What if's.

He truly wanted it. He craved it; he desired _that_ life, so much. It was the life any man could dream of: Having a beautiful wife and child, being able to raise her until she could bear her own children, and then watching, forever proud. That was the life he had right now, but he also wanted the small details in between.

He wanted to teach Emma how to sword fight, he wanted to show her how to ride a horse; he wanted to watch her love someone else as he once had. All of that had been ripped away by words on a paper and a large cloud of smoke.

David was snapped out of his daze by Emma's voice, "Are we going?" He hadn't realized that she was already at the door, holding it slightly ajar.

He nodded and followed after her.

* * *

"This feels so unrealistic," Emma said suddenly on their walk to Grannie's.

Charming was slightly shocked by the statement. "What does?" He asked, hoping she wasn't talking about their plans at the diner.

She turned to him while keeping a steady pace, "_This_. We just fought against Regina and her mother with magic just down the street, and yet everything seems so… _normal._"

"Nothing will ever be normal in this town," David said lightly.

Emma scoffed, "You're probably right about that… Sometimes I wish time could just stop. Like it did before I came here."

"Why would you want that?" He asked.

She shook her head slightly, "There is just so much happening. It took me a week in the Enchanted Forest just to get my head wrapped around the fact that my parents, and basically everyone in this town, are fairytale characters and that…" Emma suddenly stopped walking. "It's just-, now it just feels like… Everything's going the wrong direction, and even though I'm the savior, I can't do anything."

Charming hugged her with one arm, "Hey, you don't have anything to feel bad about. You saved _all_ of us. That's probably a lifetime's worth of saving, right there. Now, it's time for you to let other's help. We, both of us, have to believe that everything will be all right." He rubbed her shoulder. "We have friends and family here; don't think that you have to do everything alone."

She didn't respond.

"Do you know why I put you in the wardrobe, Emma?" He questioned suddenly, turning to her completely. He looked into her eyes that reflected his own.

She turned away from his gaze and responded, "You wanted to give me my best chance, and I get it. That doesn't have anything to-." He cut her off.

"I put you in that wardrobe with my highest hopes. Hoping that you would find us and you did." Emma glanced at him. "Trust me when I say that I regret sending you here like that. I'm sorry for that. You need to know that in my last conscious thoughts, all I wanted was for things to be okay. For you, for Snow, for the kingdom. While dying on the floor, I forced myself to believe that everything would end up all right.

"And everything did turn out right. I have my wife, daughter, and even a grandson. In a way, I will partially contradict myself in saying I don't regret that decision. You grew up to be a beautiful, strong woman, and I can ask for no more in a daughter that braved all kinds of horrors just when she was a baby."

David didn't even feel the tears that were rolling down his cheeks from the corners of his eyes. All he did was stare at his daughter, waiting for a response.

Emma sucked in a breath, "For the longest time, half of my life, I hated you and Snow. I hated that you didn't want me, and that you abandoned me. In the end, all I did was hate myself for not being good enough. I thought that it must have been the reason why you left me. I'm over that, though. I have been ever since I came back from the Enchanted Forest. All I've realized is that all this time, I have not been good enough."

He could see the woman's eyes becoming red with tears and her voice became more forced. David enveloped her in a hug, "Oh, Emma. You were more than enough. Always. I don't care if you're the savior, everything worked out in the end."

* * *

It broke down the walls. Half were still up, but her father's words were enough to blow a huge chunk of her defenses apart.

She pushed away, "But _nothing_ is working out right now. There is a blood feud going on, and our family is right in the middle of it. My son hates me, and I can't even get my mother to look me in the eye. None of this bonding or quality time will matter because everything's falling apart!"

Finally, the dams broke. Rivulets of tears came down his daughters face and she pressed her palms into her face, trying to cover up the emotional mess she was in. She hated crying in public. She hated crying in general, but she couldn't stop the streams that cascaded down her cheeks. She let her father hold her again.

When her crying had died down, she felt him pull back. "Listen to me, Emma. We're going to get through this. All of us. We'll be one happy family again, because with I will fight with every ounce of my being. Also, more importantly, because I believe we can get passed this, and you should too."

Emma wiped away her tears and smiled slightly, "Do I have to start believing in the tooth fairy and Santa, too?" She joked.

He grinned at her, "Even I wouldn't go that far." He asked, "Still want to go to Grannie's?"

Emma shook her head, "No… We should head home. No matter how dysfunctional our family is right now, I think some grilled cheeses' are manageable." They both shared a smile before heading back the way they came.

* * *

**[A/N]:** _Probably the most sappiest fic I've ever written, but ya' know. Family :)_


End file.
